To hear government union leaders tell it, without them working Americans would be toiling for 60-hour work weeks in unsafe working conditions for whip-wielding supervisors.
The reality is, the unions themselves have become the exploiters, having deteriorated into bureaucratic monthly subscription services that ignore their members except when it’s time to pay dues.
If that sounds like an exaggeration, consider the experience of workers who choose to remain anonymous fearing retribution. AFSCME 3299, for example, is the largest union representing University of California employees ranging from student service workers in the gift shops of UCLA or UC Berkley to patient care employees working at the Ronald Reagan and other university medical centers across the state.
It turns out members pay 2 percent of their salaries — capped at $1,440 annually — and those patient care workers brush right up against the max. Speaking to a Freedom Foundation staffer, the workers expressed a genuine interest in leaving their union, but they find themselves constrained by regulations that only allow opt-outs during a brief, union-designated annual window.
Got that? Not only does the union take $1,440 out of their paycheck every year, but its leaders also believe they can dictate when and how the workers can exercise their constitutionally protected right part ways with the union when and how they please.
For that kind of money, you’d expect the product or service to be of excellent quality. In the case of a union, it should have a superb line of connection with its dues-paying members and should be constantly looking for ways to improve their working conditions.
But what is the worker met with? Apathy at best and outright antagonism at worst.
One AFSCME 3299 member complained, “I represent myself better than they represent me.”
The worker explained that they had been applying for their current position for five years and were greatly disappointed to see they got no help from the union. What they noticed instead was the infighting between the local representatives and how they would blame each other for the awful variable schedules they worked.
The worker understands the union can’t get everything it bargains for, but it might be able to win a few battles if its leaders spent half as much time advocating for the members as they did dabbling in office politics.
He and his coworkers had been asking the union to just do its job since 2021 until eventually they got fed up and decided to leave no and longer financially support it.
The result? Nothing has changed in their workplace, but at least now they get to keep more than $1,000 a year to spend on rent, leisure and other necessities.
Sadly, the union can afford to have hardworking employees opt out because of such high dues rates for the other members it’s bullied into renewing their contracts.
But as employees become aware of their God-given rights under the First Amendment, unions will face an existential crisis.
And the sooner the better.
